There has long existed a need for a readily carried, set up and collapsed blind which is lightweight, comfortable and effective in use, inexpensive to manufacture, long lasting, and easily cleaned and maintained. Over the years several portable blinds have been proposed and used. One such blind is that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,018,857 to Parham. This patent shows a rather heavy blind constructed of sheet metal panels and an angle iron base. Although the blind is disclosed as being portable, it is clearly a heavy device, made of individually heavy component parts. Such a blind could not be carried far by an individual packing into a hunting area who typically must also carry a shotgun or rifle as well as other outdoor gear. Another blind is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,598 to Glutting, Jr. et al. This patent discloses a frame and fabric portable blind which is confining in size and inconvenient to use. Shooting is confined to window flap openings. Its top cover is not readily removed for shooting and a hunter has little view of the terrain or sky through the flap windows. U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,642,318 to Avant and 4,186,507 to Stinnett also show portable lightweight frame and fabric hunting blinds. The U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,318 blind has no top or cover and is therefore not very concealing for hunting waterfowl or other birds and provides no shelter from rain and snow. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,507 shows a blind with a cover, but the cover is visually limiting to blind users whose view is confined to that offered by openings in the walls.
It can therefore be seen that there exists a need for a truly portable, lightweight blind providing users effective camouflage and protection from the elements and good outward visibility of the sky and terrain. Such a blind should be inexpensive to manufacture, long lasting, simple and quick to assemble and disassembly on site without tools. It should be easy to clean and maintain. It should be comfortable and effective.